Toge Akai Bara ~ Chapter 1
by Standout
Summary: A prequel to the Slayers series...Definitely not my normal light humorous style. ^_^;
1. Default Chapter

Prologue  
The woman gazed upwards into the air, where the tall man with the silver staff glared down at her...why were the lights so bright? Oh, good...they were dimming...  
The blood gushed out of her wound to sink into the ground.   
Oi...Rezo-sama will not be pleased...it will stain...  
The red was seeping out of her...no, not good at all...  
Rezo-sama...where have you gone?  
  
  
? Toge Akai Bara ?  
  
A Rezo/Eris fanfic by Anna  
  
The flames crackled and raised towards the dark sky like long fingers, consuming the dozens of plague-ridden bodies, some still half-alive, eyes slitted and necks red from large, putrid boils. They made no move to rise, for if they did they would only fall and their fate would end the same way as what lay before them now.   
A small, dark-haired girl of perhaps ten years of age sat under a tree-one of the only living ones left-and stared straight ahead, her eyes shining with unshed tears as she held her small brother tightly. He was looking up at her with puzzlement.  
  
"Nee-sama, where are Mother and Father going?"  
  
"To heaven, Akii. Don't you know?"  
  
"Can we see them once in awhile?"  
  
The girl closed her sightless eyes, her blindness seemingly penetrating her very being. A tear slipped from underneath her eyelid and coursed down her cheek.  
  
"Oh, Akii, you know I will never be able to see anything anymore. Damn the Red Plague! Why did it take our parents' lives, but only my sight?"  
  
~~  
  
The burning of the dead and near-dead was held only four weeks before the Red Plague struck the small village of Reikan and killed eight out of ten of the population of the small, quaint town.  
  
The girl was sitting by her bed, brushing the knots out of her shoulder-length black hair in quick, brisk strokes, dark locks being pulled out by the hard wire comb. She winced every time a lock was pulled, but she needed to keep her hair nice for her birthday the following day.   
She heard a gentle knock on the door.   
"Come in," she called softly.  
Her mother entered the room, golden eyes warm with compassion. She sat beside the girl on the bed and reached for the brush.  
"Can I help you with that?"  
"Arigato, Mother."  
Her mother grasped the brush and ran it through the girl's hair.  
"Put it in ribbons, Mother, please."   
"Hai." Her mother reached for a pile of pink ribbons on the nightable and deftly wove them into her daughter's black hair.  
She touched the girl's cheek and smiled happily.  
"You are so beautiful."  
The girl smiled.   
Suddenly the gentle touch on her cheek turned ice-cold, and when the girl turned around, a man with a long red cape was standing before her, smiling, holding her mother's lifeless body.   
He had the strangest silver staff, and a jewel on his forehead...  
Then the sun fell down...  
The girl sprang from her bed, nearly tripping over her rug. Something was not right. She could feel it in the core of her being. The last time she had felt like this, she had run to her parents' room and found her father and mother dying in extreme pain...  
She ran down the seemingly endless hall. Even though she was blind, she knew her house, and village, by heart.   
She reached Akii's room and went inside. She felt for the bed, and when she found it, she touched her brother's cheek. It was as if icy fingers had touched it...  
  
~~  
  
"We're very sorry. There is nothing left to do," the village doctor sighed sadly, looking down at Akii's still body. "The Red Plague has taken him."  
The girl felt as if her world had collapsed around her ankles. Why was her life falling apart like this? Akii was the only one left, and now he was gone, and she was all alone.  
Curse this...I don't need anyone. I swear by L-sama that I will make it on my own!  
  
~~  
  
The young lady marched by the quaint huts, carrying fruits from a tree nearby. Her eyes were tightly closed, and her lips were pursed firmly. Her dark hair was disheveled and unkempt, and her skin tone was rather pale. The blue robes that were draped about her slender form were wrinkled and well-worn, and they gathered mud and dust from the dirt that they trailed in. She didn't seem to care, and walked on with a steady pace, despite the long, narrow branch she was using to guide her way.  
For a blind person, she moved with startling grace and accuracy, darting this way and that across the grass to avoid small children and animals, though usually they avoided her as well. She wasn't very social, and hadn't been since the death of her parents and brother seven years prior. She was seventeen, and living on her own since her family's passing.  
Finally she reached the safe haven of her own hut, and she went inside eagerly, slamming the door behind her to avoid the chill. Shivering slightly, she tossed her shawl on a chair and rubbed her hands together. She moved towards the kitchen to cook a stew for dinner, but stopped in her tracks when she heard a rustling coming from her parent's room.  
She took up a meat knife from a block holder and inched towards her parent's door against the wall. By L-sama, I will catch the intruder in their tracks!  
She finally whirled around and raised her fist, knife clenched firmly against her palm. She heard a musical jingling noise, a rustle of silk and a slight gasp.  
"Oh, my!" The voice was light, but definitely masculine.  
"Kisama! Who are you and what are you doing in my house? Leave, now!"  
"I-I'm sorry, Miss...ano...what might your name be?"  
"Why should I tell a thief my name?"  
"I am not a thief! I am Akai Houshi Rezo."  
"The great humanitarian priest? The Akai Houshi Rezo? Ha!"  
"It's quite true. And you, my dear woman, are not one to judge people at...ahem...first sight, if I may say so."  
"...Just leave me."  
"You still do not believe me? Come a bit closer."   
"Why should I?"  
"You want to see again, ne?"  
"Of course!"  
"Then come closer, my dear,"  
She stepped forward hesitantly, not wanting to get too close. He pulled her to him, his breath hot on her face.  
"Let go of me!"  
"Not yet."   
She felt a tingling under her eyelids and squeezed her eyes tightly shut.  
"What are you doing to me?!"  
"Helping you."  
"Yes, and do-san is going to walk in the door about now"  
"Don't be sarcastic, it doesn't suit you."  
"I can do what I want!"  
Finally he let go of her, and she took a giant step away from him.  
"You really should thank me, you know," he murmured.  
"For what? Intruding?" she replied shakily, touching a hand to her face.  
"For granting you sight."  
"Nani..?"  
"Your eyes will open in approximately five seconds."  
Despite her rational mind warning her not to believe, the child inside of her counted.  
"Five...four...three...two...one."  
She blinked rapidly, and squinted into the sunlight streaming through the room.  
She could see.  
"L-sama...." she breathed, and sank onto the bed, holding her head. "Seven years..."  
"Hai, I know...I heard about your family. I regret that I was not here to save them."  
"I owe you enough as it is," she said, gazing up at him.   
He was an attractive man, to be sure, and he was very tall and lithe. Dark violet hair curled upwards, and blood-red robes wove about his slim frame. He held a silver staff with jagged rings on it-probably the cause of the jingling noises she had heard before. The strangest thing about this man was that behind his calm, smooth face, was an air of bitter cynicism and irony that shone through in the way he spoke and moved. As if life had cheated him in some way.  
His eyes were closed.  
The young woman wondered what his secrets were.  
"So I suppose...you really are the Red Priest."  
"Hai."  
"My only question is...why were you in my house?"  
"I have heard much about you...how your determination has helped you along after your family's passing. I was very interested in meeting you."  
A blush spread across her face. She was glad he could not see it.  
"One other thing...why haven't you healed yourself?"  
A twisted smile crossed his pale features, then he shook it away.   
"Because it does not seem to work. I've tried everything.."  
She touched his hand. "It will. Something must."  
He turned his face to hers. "I hope so."  
"I've no doubt." She smiled up at him, regardless of whether he could see it or not.  
"Arigatou...what happens to be your name, dear?"  
"Watashi wa Kuraihana Eris desu."  
"...Eris-san. It's wonderful to meet you," he said, and bent to kiss her hand.  
This man...she owed him so much...she would help him.  
  
The children laughed and played in the hay by the barn in the village of Karasu, tossing handfuls of the straw about. It was summertime, when the spring crops died and new ones were planted, and inns were taken by foreigners who wanted a vacation in a rural area.   
Among these were two very strange-looking people, with pale, pale skin and long robes that hung to touch the dirt roads. They had said to the innkeeper that they were only going to stay for a short time, then move on. The people of Karasu were quite curious about the newcomers, and more then a little wary of what they might do.  
But the children couldn't care less about them, so they merely went on doing what children do in the summer, playing with friends and swimming in lakes.  
At that very moment, a harried woman stepped out of her house and began to call a name.  
"Midori-chan! Midori-chan! Where are you, child?"  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Toge Akai Bara ~ Chapter 2

The two travelers looked up in surprise at the distressed woman calling out. She saw their startled gazes and race-walked over to them, sweeping a blonde lock of hair out of her pale, tear-streaked face.   
"Have you seen a little girl wandering about in this area? Blonde hair, green eyes like mine. About this tall."  
The woman made a gesture with her shaking hands, bringing them up to her waist.  
"Her name is Midori. She's been missing for days. Have you seen her?"  
The travelers looked at each other. In silent agreement, they pulled off the hoods of their robes.   
The tall figure was a man, with curling hair and closed eyes, clutching a long bejeweled staff. With every step it made a musical jingling sound, and it seemed that he used it in the place of his sight. Pale and slender, with a gentle smile touching his lips, he had an air of constant grace about him, as if he was trying in elegance to make up for his blindness.   
The shorter figure was a young lady, disheveled black hair pulled back with a white band and an exquisite green gem. She had a pretty, delicate face but her expression held a bit of permanent irony that was lacking in her companion's countenance, as if she was a bitter person. But she seemed sympathetic.  
"No, I haven't seen anyone of that description about recently," the lady said softly.   
"Will you help me look?" The distressed woman glanced at the tall man, then forced a brittle laugh. "Oh, never mind me. I didn't notice you were-"  
"Of course we'll help you look, Miss." The man didn't seem insulted that she was poking fun at his blindness.  
"Wha-" she began, but the short lady put a hand on her shoulder.   
"Trust him." The lady in white said.   
"Thank you...I'm Sonia."  
The white-clad lady indicated the man beside her. "That's Aka Houshi Rezo. I'm Eris, his assistant."  
~~  
It was near dusk, and they were nearly ready to begin. The Red Priest pulled two cards made of rice paper out of his sleeve. "Ah, here we are," he said softly. "Eris?"  
"Right here, Rezo-sama," she said, taking the cards from him and looking them over. The ancient symbols painted on them were clearly the right ones.  
"They're correct." She said briskly, handing them back to him.  
Sonia looked on, watching the two travelers work.  
Rezo stretched out his arm and a flame bloomed in his palm. With his other hand he dipped the two cards into the fire.  
Eris knelt on the ground and pressed her palm facedown, closing her eyes. In instants, a mobius sprang from the ground and glowed consistently, a bright red star with the Red Priest in the center. A strong wind began to gust, and Eris stumbled out of the circle to let her master complete the spell.  
He murmured a few words and the cards crumbled into dust and wisped into the chilly air. The mobius disappeared, the wind ceased, and he just stood at attention, listening for something.  
"The spell was to check for your child's soul, and whereabouts...In a few moments, we will know if Midori is dead, and if not, where she is." Eris whispered compassionately.  
Sonia nodded.  
All of a sudden Rezo dropped his staff and ran, red robes trailing behind him like blood. Eris took off after him, grabbing Sonia's elbow to pull her along. They ran through thick woods on the outskirts of town, and finally stopped at a bubbling brook.   
The Red Priest pushed a decomposing tree trunk and some thorny brambles away from a hole on the side of the path, and knelt beside the dirty, crying little girl that was curled in a ball, clutching her stomach.  
"She hasn't eaten in days and her head hurts. Her knee is broken and she wants a bath, and her mother." Rezo said, still breathless from the run.  
"How...How did you-" Sonia gasped, hugging the sobbing Midori to her.  
"Shh, it doesn't matter now." Eris said, helping mother and child stand. "Just get her inside and fix her up."  
Tears streamed down Sonia's cheeks. "Thank...Thank you so much!"  
Rezo smiled faintly. "You're very welcome, Sonia."  
She looked down at her daughter with love and started off towards the path back to her village. When she looked back towards the clearing and brook to get a last glimpse at her daughter's personal angels, all she saw were trees.  
  
~~  
  



End file.
